"A MATCH MADE IN TARTARUS!" The Hoof Fighter announcer shouted. "READY? STAMPEDE!"
With that audio cue, both players immediately had their respective characters rush at each other, not wanting the other to get an advantage.
Sunset Petal fought the urge to suppress a laugh. Challenging her with her own main? Such a silly foal. She knew the inner workings of her character like she knew the back of her hoof. She quickly spun her joystick with her hoof, while using another hoof to mash light punch.
Sunset Petal's Hugger grabbed Damien's character and slammed him to the ground with a glorious pile-driver. She then quickly inputted a medium punch, hoping to further her advantage.
Damien however, responded with a parry and followed up with a piledriver of his own.
"Let's go, Damien!" A random voice yelled.
"Agghhh!" Sunset Petal's character screeched in pain.
"That Celestia-damned colt. Sunset Petal mumbled vehemently, "He probably thinks he's so cool now,"
"I'm so fucking cool," Damien thought.
With both players playing exceedingly patiently, the match crawled to a standstill. Damien and Sunset Petal watched as their respective characters safely poked at each other from a distance using their safe normals. Damien glanced at the in-game timer. Ten seconds were left on the clock and Sunset Petal currently had the life lead due to the previous chip damage from their last interaction. Damien hated to admit it, but her defense was immaculate. It took so much time to get her to make a mistake on defense and Hugger's normals weren't exactly very fast.
Damien quickly peeked at the timer. Nine seconds left. He had to risk it.
Eight seconds left. Damien quickly mashed forward, forcing his Hugger to move forward.
Seven seconds left. Sunset Petal grinned. She had no problem winning by timeout. Damien had started the battle, but she was winning the war.
Six seconds left. Damien frantically double-tapped forward on his joystick. He just needed a trade for a possible double K.O.
Five seconds left. The crowd was so loud, it started to hurt Rainbow Dash's ears. She looked around at the part of the crowd she had been pulled into.
"What the heck are all these nerds screaming about?" she thought. "It has to do with the game Damien is playing. I hope he wins so we can go." Rainbow Dash wasn't exactly a huge gamer herself and didn't understand the stakes or pride on the line.
Four seconds left. The crowd's cheering was getting so boisterous, other patrons from other areas of the business came to view the spectacle.
"Three!" The crowd cheered.
"Two!"
"One!"
Damien moved his character and made Hugger quickly jump and punch out of desperation. Sunset Petal quickly dashed back and Damien's attack completely whiffed.
"TIME OVER." The in-game announcer said. Sunset Petal was given game one of the final set of the best of five.
"Like taking candy from a foal," she exclaimed, making sure Damien could hear her.
Frustrated, Damien put his hands on his head and took a deep breath.
"Come on, don't let her get to you," Damien thought. He knew that's exactly what she wanted. Losing himself to his rage would be nothing but an assured victory for Sunset Pedal and he would be fifty bits down the hole. He prepared himself for his potential last game.
The possible final game quickly began. Damien quickly caught Sunset Petal's Hugger back dashing at an ill-advised time. Damien punished the back dash with inhuman reaction time, giving Sunset Petal no time to come up with a counter-strategy.
Sunset Petal gulped. She was in the corner. This was one of the worst places anypony in a fighting game could be. She had nowhere to run and her opponent had multiple chances to get her to drop her defense. Being in the corner with a grappler as slow as Hugger wasn't a great position either. His slow attacks didn't scare his opposition in this position. She could try to get away with a command throw, but the more she thought about this strategy, the more holes she could poke through it.
Damien was also playing Hugger. He most likely was looking for a command throw or a light punch to keep her checked in the corner. Was this what he was banking on counter-picking with her character? Sunset Petal started sweating. She looked at her super bar. She had enough for a Hail Mary super that would probably be enough to move her out of the corner and put Damien's Hugger in her position.
Nodding her head at her quickly thought up plan, she masterfully inputted two-quarter circles and pressed all the punch buttons.
"MUSCLE POWER!" The virtual minotaur screamed. He dashed forward with his arms stretched outwards, attempting to grab his virtual doppelganger.
Damien's Hugger quickly jumped in the air to avoid the super move and quickly dive bombed towards Sunset Petal's character. Sunset Petal attempted to block but realized she couldn't! Her character was recovering from the end lag of using its super.
The move connected, and Sunset Petal's Hugger fell to the ground. Game two of the final set was given to Damien. Damien breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at his shaking hands. He could feel his heart thumping and his ears ringing. Was he enjoying this?
"FINAL ROUND! LIVE OR LET DIE!" The in-game announcer shouted.
This was it. For all the marbles. Damien tried his best effort to calm himself regardless of hearing his heartbeat roaring in his chest. He wasn't going out like some punk. He wasn't like the stallions here in this sack of shit dimension. He looked back into the crowd and noticed a familiar-looking yellow unicorn cheering him on. It was Golden Flash. That stallion helped fix his house when Rainbow Dash decided to play Hoofball in it. Damien winced. Maybe that previous comment was uncalled for.
Damien also noticed that Sunset Petal was completely silent. She hadn't said anything since she lost the previous game. A small smile worked his way onto his face. Oh, how the mighty have fallen! Her gameplay also seemed a lot more sloppy. She kept dropping easy combos and her spacing was no longer as precise. She no longer was blocking as much and she was currently one out of four in breaking throws. Sunset Petal was startled. Damien's dominant win from the previous game destroyed her momentum.
"Time to take some risks," Damien thought as he reached over his arcade buttons. It was now or never. Sunset Petal was nervous and no longer fighting as calculated as before. His character quickly dashed forward and quickly threw a jab. Sunset Petal responded to the sudden aggression and had her character throw a heavy kick out to close the distance. It wasn't a safe option by any means, and it was a sloppy option selected by her.
Damien was expecting some type of unsafe aggression. This was his chance! He pressed forward heavy punch, standing heavy kick into a lariat. His character obeyed the command and performed a devastating combo on Sunset Petal's Hugger.
Damien heard that familiar groan once again. Sunset Petal had completely lost her cool at this point. She kept inputting unsafe moves that Damien simply waited for and punished. Desperation started to cloud her mind. What would the other mares think if she lost to a stallion? Twice? Fighting Games were for Mares!
Damien could practically taste victory. He had the life lead and the clock was at twenty seconds. He moved his character close to Sunset Petal's character and started teabagging. He giggled to himself. This was just too funny.
Sunset Petal saw nothing but red. She mashed every button on the controller, attempting to hit Damien's character.
"KO!" The MC cried. Hugger fell to the ground after receiving a swift kick to the head.
The crowd cheered. Stallions continued to cheer Damien's name, while various mares talked among themselves about beginner's luck.
Sunset Petal stopped mashing buttons. She lost? She could have sworn there were still twenty seconds on the in-game clock? She looked closely at the screen. Hugger was in a completely different spot than when she last remembered. She couldn't have? Did she really? She lost control and began to auto pilot. How embarrassing. She wasn't a beginner! How could that happen to her?! End Music
The light orange earth pony softly laid her head on the arcade cabinet. She was a MARE! How could she let herself get THIS worked up over a game? Against a stallion?
"I'm pathetic," She thought sadly.
Damien, on the other hand, was elated. He finally put that stuck-up mare in her place. No one insults Damien Freeman and gets away with it! Unless you were his mom. Damien stood up and looked at the mass hoard of ponies gathered around him. They were starting to leave and were going back to do whatever they were doing before Damien and Sunset Petal's little competition interrupted them. He walked over to Sunset Petal, who still had her head down.
"So," Damien started, "the bits?"
She tossed the bits near him. She then looked up at him with misty eyes. She clearly had been crying.
"I-I hope you're happy," she stuttered weakly.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash flew directly into Damien's face. She was covered in sweat, probably from being in that hot crowd.
She crossed her hooves together and shot a mean look at Sunset Petal.
"That's the mare that was bothering you? I'll set her straight." Dash got ready to knock the lights out of Sunset Petal, but Damien snatched the small pegasus out of the air before she could move.
"Dash," said Damien, "It's fine, the problem has been resolved."
At this point, his head was pretty much clear as the adrenaline wore off. He honestly felt a little bad about the teabagging. He should've been the bigger man. As much as he wanted to continue to gloat and make fun of the light orange earth pony, he understood it wasn't going to fix the problem at hand. He pulled up a seat next to the crying pony.
"Uh," he started. What the fuck was he supposed to say? Sorry for kicking your ass and you'd better watch yourself next time?
"Sorry for the teabagging. I got a little too excited. Damien rubbed his head sheepishly.
Sunset Petal looked at Damien inquisitively. Why was he the one apologizing? She was the one who started it first!
"Alien stallions sure are weird." she thought. "I-I-was a bit rude. I just couldn't believe some colt beat me playing that lame. "
Damien slightly shifted his weight in the chair. "Hey, where I come from, we got a saying," Damien says, as he smiles again.
"Play lame, win game."
Rainbow Dash snickered.
"That's pretty rich coming from somepony like you! Remember when we played hide and seek last week? "
"Dash, you fucking cheated and hid in your dumbass cloud home in the SKY!"
"Hey, you said anywhere was fair game!"
Damien fought the urge to deck her in the face.
"Anyway, it's all part of the game," he said. "There's no point in getting your pants in a twist."
As much as Sunset Petal wanted to argue, she knew she couldn't. He was right.
Sunset Petal apologizes, "I guess I'm sorry for being a bad sport."
Damien gets up and points at Dash and motions towards the front of the building. It seemed like the business was getting ready to close. Workers were going into changing rooms or wiping down greasy equipment.
"No problem," said Damien. "Maybe we can play again on friendlier terms?"
Sunset Petal nodded. Damien extended his hand, and she shook it. They exchanged good-byes and Damien and Rainbow Dash left the building, leaving Sunset Petal alone. She looked at her reflection on the screen of the now turned off Hoof Fighter machine. She still felt pretty bad about her immature actions and promised herself she would make it up to Damien. It was the least she could do.
After leaving Controller Hooves, Damien explained the entire situation to Rainbow Dash. She lamented that Damien stopped her from knocking the mare into next week. He gave a hearty laugh and took the fifty bits he had won out of his pocket.
"I think we're even now, Dash."
His parents may have taught him to be the bigger man, but that didn't mean he couldn't be a little richer as well.
Ayo!! It ended peacefully. That is awesome.
11140000
Funny enough, I planned for it to end pretty ugly. I based this off of a real tournament experience I had.
11140023
Oh Jeez. Well. Glad you changed it up and it was resolved peacefully.
Nice to see that it ended peacefully. Tournaments can get pretty toxic.
11140077
Funny story I based a bit of this chapter off of a smash tournament I went to pre-covid.
I was used to main Ken and this Little Mac player was sort of beating my ass. So I switch to Lucina and camped his ass out. That pissed him off and he threw his controller at me.
11140083
Had similar experiences pre-COVID. Joined a local Smash tournament on multiple occasions just to meet new people. I play the game for fun, nothing more, and met some interesting people.
But then there were the ones that took the game WAY too seriously. They would throw insults over how bad I was at the game and say stuff like: "Are you even trying?"
Not that their comments hurt me that much. If you want to insult me in order to hurt me, you have to say a lot more than to call me a NEWBY.
I don't play to win, I play to have fun.
11139833
Alright, fair enough, it's your story.
Also, a little word of advice, go with World and Iceborne before Rise. The reason being that you'll get a horrible condition called "Second-game Syndrome" otherwise... Well actually, now that I think about it, you'll get it either way, but with a slight variation depending on which one you go with first.
If you choose Rise first and then decide to go with an older game like World, or "God Forbid" G.U, your going to be like "Hurr durr, why dis game so hard!? Why can't I just button mash!? What do mean I have to actually think about what I'm doing!? Ugh, this game sucks! I hate it! I quit!". Yes, I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea.
If you start with World however, you are instead going to be like "I say old chap, this electronic entertainment program is quite a bore. Oh, I do so very much wish that it was a bit more of a challenge, as at the current moment I am very much considering putting it down for good"...
... Anyways, I'm getting off topic here. The point is, if you go back to an older title first and then go to rise, you're going to have a lot more rust on your chops to work with and experience to fall back on, instead of pretty much just button mashing in Rise. To simplify, if you start as far back as, say, 4 Ultimate on the 3DS, you'll be accustomed to much harder and "clunkier" systems, and as you go forward the difficulty will figuratively smooth itself out until you're a veteran hunter across multiple games.
In conclusion, I would strongly, strongly recommend going with the order of 4 Ultimate on the 3DS, Generations Ultimate on the Switch, Iceborne on PC, and finally Rise on PC. But hey, I'm just a random dude on the internet, so what do I know? Do what you want, I can't stop you, and wouldn't even if I could.
Youy cant train me to expect underlines under every fighting term and then do this to me.
Love the gender roles... Well no, but it's cool way of thinking about unequal gender ratios. Wouldn't want to be in that world though.
11140418
I wanted to try a unique take on rgre. I always wanted more than just gender role swaps. I really love rgre stories that make a world seem almost unbearable to live in but enough to keep going.
11140294
Sorry? I'm a bit confused. Is the sentence werid to read?
11140458
No, it's just that Option Select is also a fighting game term so I was thrown off to see the words used in a regular sentence.
11140083
Was about to say the characters response feels more at home at a brawl or smash 4 tournament. Well, at least no one threw a crab at you.
You think they'll be any fall out because the OC lost? The main character will get white knighted at the most cringe worthy moments? Overnight famous and sought after because of gamer cred.
Oh, someone in the comments mentioned monster hunter so.... yeah Rise is fun but its a very short/shallow game compared to the financially cheaper and most ambitious Monster Hunter World. If you want a better experience just do MHW. If you have a switch and need a reason to use it more often then you can go ahead and bust out Rise, or even the fabled Monster Hunter Generations (old style) if you feel like learning curves aren't steep enough (the pay off is immense, but recommended for after trying world as there's a lot of quality of life things missing from the older generations).
(p.s. are you good at smash?)
11140103
what character you play?
11140140
I second the opinion of trying monster hunter world first. I'm a sucker for generations though.
11140566
Piranha Plant, Little Mac, Ridley, Lucina and Terry Bogard mostly.
11140567
Hell yeah, amen to that! And I know this might sound a bit weird, but my favorite monster in G.U. is the Great Maccao, for the sole reason that it has a dope theme. Seriously, check it out, it's awesome.
11140565
11140607
well the fall out isn't the character giving problems, but more like others giving her issues because she lost. "Your gamer card is revoked by the council of pretty good players", you know the same one no one knows about because they aren't apart of that clique.
The smash box just seemed like too much work, but good on ya to stick to it and to the DLC character, he's busted but it still takes a lot of work to make it all worthwhile. Why would you need a secondary? What coverage would you need that punching harder wouldn't cure?
11140599
I just miss a load of the older weapons and how the HBG worked in older games. Crouching fire to unload your entire stock if you set up properly was amazing. Rise made it too easy to just use (the only) LBG and shred everything.
11140621
kazuya has a frame 7 jump squat,struggles when he's getting camped out, mad slow. Need someone to cover those types of matchups
11140624
Eh, handheld for the little ones, I guess. Although, you have to admit that the new monsters from rise are pretty dope. Magnamalo and Goss Harag being my favorites among them.
11140629
man, its been a while since I had to think about this stuff but, didn't all inputs have at least 7 frames of input lag? (there was a video referring to the different input lag based on controller- spoiler alert, usb had the worst whereas bluetooth had the best) I don't know the character so I'll just give ya the benefit of the doubt. The advice in some circles was always "play a better character" so I guess steve/alex or sora would be the "correct" choice?
You're in the trending tab. Congrats!
Is this the end? It feels like an end, but it isn't marked as such
It was fun! And yeah... RD really strikes me as being on the more extreme end of RGRE. Doesn't mean she can't be friendly outside of that, of course
11140642
I know its not going to be a popular opinion but, even the subspecies were neat of the older generations. Lucent narg, and Generations had the one that did flippin' sonic booms that more or less insta-killed. The new monsters are always great though, especially Goss Harag. It just feels like they were kinda shallow, less about nature and more like megaman bosses (the riding becomes hacking). I was shocked when I learned Diablos was a vegetarian in the third game, stuff like that doesn't really happen here or more like they just die too quick.
11140721
Yeah, fair enough. Also, here's the one you're thinking about.
https://monsterhunter.fandom.com/wiki/Silverwind_Nargacuga
11140737
11140721
Guys. I get you are excited about monster hunter, but I would appreciate it if you took your conversation into your dm's. I want the comment section to be about the story or fighting games.
11140719
I am going to write more. I'm currently in my last semester of college so I am doing an internship. Trying to pace myself so I don't suffer burnout.
11140742
Terribly sorry my good sir, I shall cease and desist immediately. Please have a wonderful day.
She dropped her rythm, she fucked up. And she forgot to scream.
Im looking forward to this being continued.
Monk
11140742
sorry about that, you won't hear a peep out of me.
Given that he stood up Dash and then made her wait once she found him, it would be polite for him to spend some of his earnings on her.
Given that this is reverse gender role Equestria, the gesture would probably even be more meaningful.
On the other hoof...this being RGRE, the fact that he was nice to Sunset Petal and expressed interest in playing her again should almost certainly be taken as a sign of attraction or interest. Somebody still liking you even when you fail carries weight.
11141629
Hmm
Quite the observant reader
c.tenor.com/4VMRd86DjBkAAAAC/easter-funny-shrek.gif
This was fun to read! Good work! Can't wait for the rest